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Water Bureau wants to know how it handled Portland's boil water alert: Portland City Hall Roundup

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Laurie Staples bought bottled water for herself and 13 children at the Safeway at NE 122nd and and Glisan in northeast Portland Friday morning. The Portland Water Bureau issued a boil water alert for the entire city as well as some suburban customers.
(Stuart Tomlinson/The Oregonian)

Many restaurants and bars closed throughout the city. City officials warned residents to boil tap water before cooking, drinking or brushing teeth. The E. coli triggered alert sparked a slew of reactions on social media, and some confusion from residents who wondered why the city waited days to notify its customers (the state required the notice and the city followed protocol). The boil water alert was lifted on May 24 after test results came back clean.

Now, the water bureau wants to know how it can improve the way it communicates with the public in future emergencies.

The bureau posted a short online survey on its website asking residents and business owners to share how they heard of the emergency, from what source and to what extent they knew what they could and couldn't do with the tap water.

The bureau also wants advice on how to improve emergency notifications in the future.